SpEd? How would U handle social promotion?

Question

An 8th grader on an IEP has been failing all year- not because accomodations or modifications haven't been done; they have. The kid just won't work even if I an sitting in front of him. His mother went to the H.S where she used to work and talked to the resource teachert there and that resource teacher has a meeting planned to promote him to HS based on his age, he is 15 and was held back in first grade. All of the current 8th grade teachers are against moving him up because it isn't fair to the kids who do work to skip into HS after Christmas.

The district policy says the parent needs to provide documentation if they disagree with the Jr. H.S decision but no one from the district is invited to the meeting. I am the kid's resource teacher and I am worried what future implications could occur if this does push through, as it looks like it will. If the kid does start working in HS- great! but if not can they come back on me that somehow I was responsible .. advice?

Answer 1

As one voice on the ''IEP Team,'' you can voice your concerns and give your opinion. Yet, as you know, the parent's rights and wishes trump your vote, so... Good luck.

Answer 2

In our county it is not up to the high school to determine whether or not a student passes, it is up to the middle school sending him, so even if the resource teacher wanted him promoted, it's not her decision.

Every district has strict guidelines about what students need to do to be promoted, and this includes ESE students, especially when the IEP is appropriate and has been followed.

Your administration needs to be involved, and possibly the district ESE resource person.  The high schoo resource teacher shouldn't even be inthe picture.

Not only is social promotion not fair to the other students who do the work, it's also not fair to the failing student.  He doesn't learn anything except that he doens't have to do anything and Mommy will save him, and he is not prepared for high school.  It is an action-consequences situation, and the child needs to accept the consequences for his actions, or in this case, his inactions.  

It's a shame to be 15 in middle school, but there are other educational options he can pursue such as virtual high school and night school - the rules for each district vary, but in ours 15 year olds can get a waiver for night school and 8th graders can take some electives through virtual high school.

The only other thing I can think of that you might want to do is re-evaluate the kid if it hasn't been done recently.  Is there another, lower class, such as EMH, that he might fit into better?  Or is he in the proper placement and just refusing to work?  That happens sometimes, in both ESE and regular ed kids, and sometimes they end up dropping out and returning to school later when they are more motivated.  Maybe it's a control issue based on whatever is happening at home?  Maybe he's depressed? (Don't forget that we can't suggest a physical - ask if he's seen a doctor lately in a tactful, low key way.)

You can't put a pen in the child's hand and make him write - as long as you're doing everything you can do, if the child still refuses to do the work, he should fail just like everyone else.

By the way, yes, they can come back and blame you for moving him up.  We are seeing more and more sue happy parents these days, and in our district over half of the money we get for our ESE students goes into a special fund for lawsuits.  We've even had parents of students in reading class who've sued because their kids get an A in class and then don't score as well on the state test.  We've had parents sue because a teacher forgot to sign one paper (the services were still provided for the student, but because the teacher forgot to sign on one line, they sued) and there are so many more ridiculous stories around.

Spread the blame - get an administrator, counselor, and district person to support you with this parent, and stand strong.

Answer 3

Social promotion is wrong for any child, much less for one identified as Spec Ed! It does the child a disservice, and second-guesses all the interventions taken to that point. A child who will not work may not be lazy, but have low self-esteem. Most kids in any Spec Ed designation come into the program as failures, since our system tries not to classify them till they are 2 years behind in reading and/or math. Since self-esteem cannot be taught, Spec Ed teachers need to be innovative and creative just to get them into a situation where they can succeed, and be recognized for it.

Do you agree with this child's IEP? Does it describe the child with whom you have tried to work? As a Special Day Class teacher, I often received students from other schools without their IEP's. I would test them in class, put them in books at levels I knew they could handle, and proceed from there. When the IEP finally came in, I often couldn't recognize the student in my classroom by the description in the IEP!

Another thing: Have there been home visits done by you and the counseling staff? This can be an eye-opener! There is something wrong in this child's life, and he may have no way to tell anyone about it, because his ability to trust has been amputated by abuse of one sort or another.

TeacherL is right: You need back-up, both from the District level and the school level. Well documented interventions should be presented in the meeting to prospectively change this student's status. In the meantime, test this child on instruments which give you the most insight info where his psyche is hiding. Try to think up innovative ways to get through to him. I had a child who was exclusively a tactile learner. By chance, I took a District course in American Sign Language in which we were taught how to bring the material into class. We were taught simple games in Amslan, as well as finger-spelling and a lot of vocabulary. I taught my whole class to finger-spell, and we played all the games, and had fun with it. Suddenly, my tactile learner was learning at breakneck speed! I had my aide give a spelling test, so I could watch what she was doing: Under her desk, she was finger-spelling every word before she wrote it on her paper! She went on to a B average in Junior High in the mainstream.

By excluding the District from the meeting, this HS RSP is treading on very shaky ground, indeed! For major shifts in status, the District MUST be involved! To present them with a "fait accompli" is to risk one's job, even if one has tenure. You not only need the District represented and your own records, you need all the 8th grade teachers there, or if they can't be present physically, have depositions from them stating why this promotion should not go through. It would also help to have a psychological examination on the records, and the counselor who made the evaluation present in fact or through deposition. This is a case of CTA, my friend, and copies of all documentation should be attached to the child's file, as well as in your possession. The originals should be kept at the District level.

Answer 4

Wow, these are very long answers.  In short, at first I was morally opposed to the idea of social promotion.  I believed it to be a kindly-sounding phrase for administrative cop-outs.  I was very shocked to read the research supporting social promotion during an objective literature review.  In essence, research reveals that children who are retained learn less and feel worse than children who are socially promoted.  The sample and population are very important to the generalizability of this research.  For instance, it would not apply to a person with profound mental retardation.  Perhaps you could research the literature, comparing the sample and population with your own student and then form an opinion on the matter.